(Supplied photo)

The thundering, repeated chord that opens Dog Day's debut album portends of imminent doom and gloom. At any moment, the listener might surmise, an extended goth anthem might break out. Or a cover of Black Sabbath's Iron Man.

Either way, it's not dark yet, but it's getting there.

Ah, but the first 10 seconds of an album do not always tell the full story. For, in a flash, Casey Spidle, Seth Smith, Crystal Thili and Nancy Ulrich break the mood, managing to transform a funereal opening into an impossibly infectious song that trades vintage Sabbath for vintage Sloan. And, less than two minutes later, leads us into more of the same on an album of upbeat power-pop gems.

"We all come from different schools of thought," Spidle says of the method behind the Halifax-based band's magic. "We were teenagers in the '90s so we had to do some searching to find the right music. For me, it was My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr., Eric's Trip ..."

Spidle stops at that last, legendary band -- a quartet that certainly spoke loudly to disaffected Maritimers during that confused decade. It was Eric's Trip, Spidle nostalgically notes, that "were my introduction to that lo-fi sound."

It's a sound and feel the band captured well on a promising 2003 EP that quickly sprouted from a homemade CD-R to a proper Sonic Unyon-distributed must-have. When the full-length album, Night Group, arrived earlier this year, that promise was fulfilled.

Call it the product of a band in love with hooks. Call it the product of four years' worth of touring and tightening. Call it an innate group sense that can only come from a band whose four members incorporate two couples.

Though, frankly, Spidle would prefer you not dwell on that last aspect.

"We try to avoid talking about that as much as possible," he says, "because it's not like we planned it. We work well together. It's not like we set out to be the next ABBA.

"Still," he admits, "in terms of touring I am happy that I don't have to leave anyone at home. And that it's not just a bunch of dirty guys sharing hotel rooms and sleeping on floors."

He's happy. We're happy. After all, that sort of lifestyle tends to inspire music of doom and gloom.

This weekend, a new live venue officially enters the market.

Well, it's not exactly new: The Elmdale House Tavern has been up and running for more than 70 years. But, as honky-tonkers The McGillicuddy Sisters and Ball and Chain prepare to celebrate the watering hole's grand reopening with a pair of rousing concerts, the Elmdale is poised to join the wave of cool sweeping Hintonburg, by becoming a contender on the local scene.

New owners, and longtime patrons, Nathalie and Bruce Myles took control of the tavern six weeks ago, and dutifully set about giving the old gal a fresh coat of paint (or several) and generally turning what was once a dive into a proper faux dive. Ball and Chain and the Wreckers, the popular local country and western-swing outfit, came onboard almost immediately, and will perform the first weekend of each month. Other original acts have also been lined up for the coming weeks. And Nathalie Myles can't wait to see them.

"It's all new to me," she admits. "But it's very exciting. And bands are contacting me left and right to play.

"It seems like the right time to do this. The neighbourhood is changing and we wanted this place to change with it."